Davis closes Facebook page after conspiracy posts

Published: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 at 5:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 at 9:19 a.m.

Volusia County Chair Jason Davis, responding to questions about some potentially controversial posts on his Facebook profile, is done with social media for now.

Davis deactivated his Facebook account Tuesday after he was asked about posts promoting conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and 9/11 terrorist attacks.

He said he didn't have anything to do with the photos he appeared to share over the weekend: One headlined "Sandy Hook: No Way!" and another titled "24 Hard Facts About 9/11 That Cannot Be Debunked."

"No, I would be a lot more politically correct than that," Davis said. "It looks like, according to you, I'm going to have to change my password."

The posts appeared on his profile Sunday, each the same way: "Jason Davis shared Death Before Disinformation's photo." (Death Before Disinformation is a fairly recently created Facebook group focused largely on government conspiracies.)

Davis had shared other photos on his profile in the past, some political, but none of the same extreme bent as Sunday's posts, which also included links to YouTube videos.

On Tuesday, he said he wasn't sure how those posts landed on his profile. He wondered if he'd been hacked and said he hadn't used his Facebook for months. And he suggested someone else who had access to his account during his political campaign might have shared them, but he didn't remember the person's name.

(Davis did later acknowledge he used his Facebook last Thursday — posting a comment about President Barack Obama's executive orders on gun control — and not months ago, as he originally thought.)

The County Council has become increasingly visible on Facebook in recent years; council members Pat Northey and Josh Wagner each use it for a mix of the personal and political.

Other elected officials have faced scrutiny over their public Facebook posts and shares, and the heightened debate over gun control has contributed to it.

In Columbus, Ohio, this week, state Board of Education President Debe Terhar posted a photo of Adolf Hitler with the quote: "To conquer a nation, first disarm its citizens." A Facebook friend spotted the post and sent it to the Columbus news media, which led Terhar to tell the Ohio news station FOX-19: "I regret the consequences of carelessly sharing that picture and I will be more selective in my use of social media in the future."

Davis, who defeated longtime County Councilman Carl Persis in November to replace former County Chair Frank Bruno, hadn't spent much time in the public eye before his election. But his Facebook contacts had grown to include public figures like state Sen. John Thrasher and state Rep. Dave Hood, among several other area politicians.

But he shut down the page abruptly Tuesday, saying: "Maybe in a couple months, it might come back... I don't have time for things that are just not pertinent to what I do."

Several fringe Sandy Hook conspiracy theories that emerged soon after the shootings spread widely on YouTube and Facebook. Many of them suggest the shootings were exaggerated by the government and media for political effect in the gun control debate. A previous video similar to the one on Davis' profile has more than 11.4 million views on YouTube.

Davis said he wasn't one of the people watching it, and he wasn't aware of the theories.

"I really, to be honest with you, have no opinion," he said. "I'm running a county government; I really have had no time to get involved with national conspiracies or information on that. I haven't looked into it."

<p>Volusia County Chair Jason Davis, responding to questions about some potentially controversial posts on his Facebook profile, is done with social media for now. </p><p>Davis deactivated his Facebook account Tuesday after he was asked about posts promoting conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and 9/11 terrorist attacks. </p><p>He said he didn't have anything to do with the photos he appeared to share over the weekend: One headlined "Sandy Hook: No Way!" and another titled "24 Hard Facts About 9/11 That Cannot Be Debunked." </p><p>"No, I would be a lot more politically correct than that," Davis said. "It looks like, according to you, I'm going to have to change my password." </p><p>The posts appeared on his profile Sunday, each the same way: "Jason Davis shared Death Before Disinformation's photo." (Death Before Disinformation is a fairly recently created Facebook group focused largely on government conspiracies.) </p><p>Davis had shared other photos on his profile in the past, some political, but none of the same extreme bent as Sunday's posts, which also included links to YouTube videos.</p><p>On Tuesday, he said he wasn't sure how those posts landed on his profile. He wondered if he'd been hacked and said he hadn't used his Facebook for months. And he suggested someone else who had access to his account during his political campaign might have shared them, but he didn't remember the person's name. </p><p>(Davis did later acknowledge he used his Facebook last Thursday &mdash; posting a comment about President Barack Obama's executive orders on gun control &mdash; and not months ago, as he originally thought.) </p><p>The County Council has become increasingly visible on Facebook in recent years; council members Pat Northey and Josh Wagner each use it for a mix of the personal and political. </p><p>Other elected officials have faced scrutiny over their public Facebook posts and shares, and the heightened debate over gun control has contributed to it. </p><p>In Columbus, Ohio, this week, state Board of Education President Debe Terhar posted a photo of Adolf Hitler with the quote: "To conquer a nation, first disarm its citizens." A Facebook friend spotted the post and sent it to the Columbus news media, which led Terhar to tell the Ohio news station FOX-19: "I regret the consequences of carelessly sharing that picture and I will be more selective in my use of social media in the future." </p><p>Davis, who defeated longtime County Councilman Carl Persis in November to replace former County Chair Frank Bruno, hadn't spent much time in the public eye before his election. But his Facebook contacts had grown to include public figures like state Sen. John Thrasher and state Rep. Dave Hood, among several other area politicians. </p><p>But he shut down the page abruptly Tuesday, saying: "Maybe in a couple months, it might come back... I don't have time for things that are just not pertinent to what I do." </p><p>Several fringe Sandy Hook conspiracy theories that emerged soon after the shootings spread widely on YouTube and Facebook. Many of them suggest the shootings were exaggerated by the government and media for political effect in the gun control debate. A previous video similar to the one on Davis' profile has more than 11.4 million views on YouTube. </p><p>Davis said he wasn't one of the people watching it, and he wasn't aware of the theories. </p><p>"I really, to be honest with you, have no opinion," he said. "I'm running a county government; I really have had no time to get involved with national conspiracies or information on that. I haven't looked into it."</p>